The Summer Palace, where Empress Dowager Cixi lived for a long time, has the dual functions of a palace and a garden. Therefore, a palace area was built at the main entrance of the garden as a place to receive courtiers and handle state affairs. The palace area consists of a hall, a court, a duty room and other buildings that enter the courtyard. It occupies a small area and is relatively independent of the vast garden forest area, which is both separated and connected.
Wanshou Mountain and Kunming Lake are the main parts of the garden area. Wanshou Mountain is about 1000 meters long from east to west and 60 meters high. The water surface of Kunming Lake accounts for about 78% of the whole park area. The northwest end of the lake bypasses the west foot of Wanshou Mountain and connects with the "Houhu" at the north foot, forming a situation where mountains are surrounded by water, closely connecting the lake with the mountains.
Kunming Lake is the largest lake in the royal gardens of Qing Dynasty. There is a long dike in the lake-Xidi, which winds from northwest to south. Xidi and its branch dikes divide the lake into three waters of different sizes, and there is an island in the middle of the lake in each water area. These three islands line up on the lake, symbolizing the three sacred mountains in the East China Sea-Penglai, the abbot and Ying in the ancient legend of China. The west dike and the six bridges on the dike consciously imitate the "Su Causeway Six Bridges" of Su Causeway and Hangzhou West Lake, making Kunming Lake more and more like the West Lake. The natural scenery around the west dike is open, and the beautiful mountain shape of Yuquan Mountain and the Yufeng Tower at the top of the park are part of the landscape. Seen from Kunming Lake and the lakeside, the scenery outside the park,
The south slope of Wanshou Mountain (that is, Qian Shan) is adjacent to Kunming Lake, and the mountains and lakes are connected, forming an extremely pleasant natural environment. The above lakes, mountains, islands, dikes and buildings, together with the scenery outside the park, constitute a continuous and embroidered landscape picture. Qian Shan is close to the main entrance of the park and the queen's bedroom, which is convenient for sightseeing and returning, overlooking Kunming Lake area from the south. Therefore, the main buildings in the park are gathered here. In the layout of buildings in Qian Shan, landscape architects have adopted the method of highlighting key points accordingly. There is a group of central buildings with large volume and rich images in the middle. From the shore of the lake to the top of the mountain, a magnificent hall and platform cover the hillside. It forms a longitudinal axis that runs through the front mountain. This group of large buildings includes the main buildings of the park-Paiyun Hall where the Emperor and Hou held a celebration meeting and Foxiang Pavilion, a Buddhist temple. The latter is the largest building in the park. The pavilion is about 40 meters high and stands on the stone platform. In many places outside the park, you can see its octagonal, four-fold eaves and pyramid-shaped roof image. Become the overall composition center of Qian Shan and Kunming Lake. Corresponding to the longitudinal axis of the central building complex is a "promenade" spanning the foothills and along the north bank of the lake, with a total length of 728 meters. This is the longest veranda in China gardens. The rest of the buildings in Qian Shan are small in scale and naturally sparsely arranged in the foothills.
The river in Houhu meanders at the foot of Houshan Mountain on the northern slope of Wanshou Mountain. The gardener skillfully used the cramped environment of the north bank of Hebei and the palace wall to build a rockery barrier on the north bank, which matched the real mountains on the south bank, resulting in the landform of two mountains and one water. The water surface of the river is wide and narrow, and the lake after boating gives people the pleasure of returning to the water and becomes an excellent still water scene in the park.
The landscape of the back mountain is very different from that of the front mountain. It is a natural environment full of wild interest, with lush trees, winding mountain roads and quiet scenery. Except for the "Sumeru Spiritual World" of the middle Buddhist temple, most of the buildings are concentrated in several self-contained small gardens, which form exquisite gardens with the surrounding environment. They can be flexibly arranged according to the terrain. There are trunks on both sides of the central part of Houhu Lake.
Humor Garden, formerly known as Huishan Garden, is a garden built after Wuxi Jichang Garden. The whole garden is centered on the water surface and dominated by waterscapes. The surrounding pools are dotted with clean and elegant halls, halls, pavilions, pavilions and other buildings, which are connected by winding corridors, in which weeping willows and bamboos are planted. The rocks on the north bank of the pool are rockeries, and the flowing water is pumped from the back lake and injected into the pool through the Qin Yu Canyon.
The Summer Palace is located in Haidian District, northwest of Beijing, about15km from the city center. Originally a court garden in the Qing Dynasty, its name means "supporting Taihe". The long corridor, Zhou Shi, Buddha Pavilion, Baoyun Pavilion, Grand Theatre, Seventeen-hole Bridge, Jade Belt Bridge and other buildings in the garden are treasures in the world architectural culture, and have a lofty position in the history of Chinese and foreign garden art.
The whole park is divided into three parts: Wanshou Qian Shan, Kunming Lake and Houshan Houhu. Qian Shan, with the Buddha Pavilion as the center, forms a huge main building complex, which is magnificent. The rippling Kunming Lake is laid flat at the southern foot of Wanshou Mountain, accounting for about 3/4 of the whole park area. There is a South Lake Island in the lake, which is connected with the shore by a beautiful 17 span bridge. There is a west dike on the west side of the lake, and six beautifully shaped dikes are built on it.
Renshou Hall is located at the East Palace Gate of the Summer Palace. It is the main hall where Cixi and Guangxu sit and listen to politics. Formerly known as Qin Zhengtang, it was rebuilt in Guangxu period and renamed Renshoutang. Facing the east, there are seven halls on both sides, with Renshou Gate in front and nine rooms in the north and south outside. Bronze dragons, phoenixes and ding are all beautifully carved.
Le Shoutang faces Kunming Lake, with Deheyuan Theater in the east and a promenade in the west, where Cixi lives. Guangxu calligraphy is written on the horizontal plaque on the black background of Leshou Hall, and there is a dock for Cixi to take a boat in front of the hall. Magnolia, Xifu Begonia, Peony and other precious flowers and trees are planted in the hospital, which means "Jade Hall is rich".
Yulantang is located on the lakeside of Kunming. It is the bedroom of Emperor Guangxu. It is a group of halls that extend in all directions. The main hall, Yulantang, is an east-west annex building. The east is called Xia Fenting Hall, and the west is separated from the outside by the Champs Elysé es. The back eaves and two annex buildings are brick walls, which are important historical sites of the Summer Palace.
Wanshou Mountain, which belongs to the residual vein of Yanshan Mountain, is 58.59 meters high. The building is built on the mountain, with the Buddha Pavilion as the center, eight sides, three floors and four eaves in front of Wanshou Mountain, forming a huge main building complex. From the "Yunhui Yuyu" archway at the foot of the mountain, through Paiyunmen, Ergongmen, Paiyundian, Dehui Hall, Buddha Pavilion, to the wisdom sea at the top of the mountain. Formed a central axis that rises layer by layer. On the east side, there are stone tablets of "Runwheel Hidden" and "Wanshou Mountain Kunming Lake". On the west side, there are Wu Fangting and Baoyun Pavilion made of copper. In the back hill, there are magnificent Tibetan Buddhist buildings and colorful pagodas standing among the green trees. There are pavilions and pavilions such as Jingfu Pavilion, Chongcui Pavilion, Xie Qiuxuan, and Pictorial World Tour on the mountain, overlooking the scenery of Kunming Lake.
Wisdom Sea is located at the top of Wanshou Mountain. It is a beamless Buddhist temple built entirely of brick and stone, consisting of vertical and horizontal arch coupons. The whole body is decorated with five-color glazed tiles, with gorgeous colors and exquisite patterns, especially thousands of glazed buddhas embedded in the outer wall of the temple.